Second Maryland environmental group endorses challenger to District 39 Sen. Nancy King

Md. League of Conservation Voters joins Sierra Club in backing challenger Amar Mukunda

June 1, 2026 11:03 a.m.

Vote pins — Photo credit: Moussa81/Getty Images

A second Maryland environmental group has snubbed veteran District 39 Sen. Nancy King (D-Montgomery Village) in favor of her primary challenger, engineer/entrepreneur Amar Mukunda of Germantown, in the June 23 primary election.

In its latest round of endorsements last week, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters (LCV) announced it is backing Mukunda. That move followed an endorsement of Mukunda earlier this spring by the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club.

The two organizations appear to have a similar quarrel with King: transportation policy.

“Senator King has had a strong environmental voting record for many years,” Kim Coble, the Maryland LCV’s executive director, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, she has not kept up with the environmental priorities of her district and the state on issues of clean transportation.”

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King, the current Senate majority leader who has served in the General Assembly for nearly 25 years, has been a supporter of the widening of the Capital Beltway and I-270—putting her at odds with the Sierra Club, which at one point sued to block the controversial project.

The LCV cited King’s opposition to the proposed Transportation and Climate Alignment Act the past two years as a major factor in their decision. The legislation would require the state to offset pollution from new highway projects by investing in public transit and biking and walking trails.

In an April interview, King contended passage of that bill would have stalled future road projects in her Upcounty district. “I just wasn’t willing to go along with that,” King said, adding, “My people are tired of sitting in traffic on I-270.”

According to disclosure reports filed with the State Board of Elections in mid-May, King entered the final weeks prior to the June 23 primary with $129,670 on hand, almost twice as much as the approximately $69,800 reported by Mukunda.

Challengers in Districts 16 and 18 dig into own pockets to boost campaigns

Ahmad is not the only candidate for the House of Delegates this year with close ties to the Montgomery County Women’s Democratic Club: Kate Stein, the organization’s vice president, is challenging the three incumbent delegates in the District 18 Democratic primary.

Both Ahmad and Stein recently sought to boost their campaigns by digging into their own pockets for five-figure loans, according to filings with the State Board of Elections.

Ahmad, who lives in Potomac, in late April loaned her campaign $30,000, on top of the approximately $85,000 she has raised since filing to run a year ago. The loan enabled her to report having just under $28,900 in her treasury as of mid-May, with about a month to go until the primary.

Stein, a Chevy Chase resident who filed her candidacy hours before the Feb. 24 deadline, loaned her campaign $25,000 in mid-April, on top of $16,650 raised in outside donations over the past three months. She reported a little more than $21,500 on hand as of late May.

Some of these funds apparently went for a Stein flier that recently arrived in the mailboxes of some of the district’s Democratic voters.

Although a candidate’s personal funds are often listed as a loan when transferred to a campaign, such transfers are rarely repaid—and usually are written off as de facto personal donations.

In District 16, two of the four Democratic candidates for the three delegate seats—incumbents Korman and Wolek—held a major advantage in campaign funds going into the closing weeks of the primary campaign, according to the recent State Board of Elections filings.

Korman, first elected in 2014 and now chair of the influential Environment and Transportation Committee, has raised $356,600 since the start of his current four-year term, and had $195,300 in his campaign treasury as of mid-May. Wolek—appointed to her seat by the county’s Democratic Central Committee in 2023 to fill a vacancy—reported raising $210,300 over the past three years, with nearly $144,500 on hand.

Ahmad’s fundraising numbers put her ahead of the third incumbent in the Democratic primary– Woorman. First appointed to the seat in 2024, Woorman reported raising just under $35,000 since then, with about $22,900 in her campaign treasury.

In adjacent District 18, the three incumbents seeking re-election—Dels. Aaron Kaufman (D-Chevy Chase) and Emily Shetty and Jared Solomon (both D-Kensington)—held a significant financial edge over Stein, thanks in part to fundraising throughout their current terms.

Kaufman, first elected in 2022, reported raising nearly $92,750, with about $129,500 remaining in his campaign treasury. Shetty and Solomon, both first elected in 2018, reported total fundraising of $85,930 and $122,550, respectively; Shetty had just under $76,700 remaining on hand, with about $98,500 for Solomon.

The three incumbents and Stein are scheduled to appear June 8 at a candidates’ forum—sponsored by the District 18 Breakfast Club—three days prior to the start of early in-person voting.

The three District 18 primary winners are guaranteed of returning to Annapolis next year: No Republicans have filed to run in that constituency in November.

The three Democratic winners in District 16 will face a single Republican candidate: Ann Hingston of Bethesda, a member of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee and a former Reagan White House official.

In the District 18 primary, Korman is running on a slate that also includes Sen. Sara Love (D-Cabin John), appointed to fill a 2024 vacancy after six years in the House of Delegates. Love is being challenged by Lou James Bartolo, a health care professional who filed a day before the February deadline.

Love recently reported total fundraising of $118,200 during the current election cycle, with $106,800 in her campaign treasury. Bartolo has supplemented $1,600 in fundraising with a $5,000 loan to himself, with $3,400 remaining on hand.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine